ENGLISH 010 FUNDAMENTALS OF WRITING

Students who complete ENGLISH 010 will demonstrate proficiency in 1.) use of writing processes, 2.) critical awareness when reading and writing, and 3.) stylistic fluency and technical accuracy. These goals may be achieved through the sub-goals listed below each proficiency.

1. Use of writing processes:

  • invent (freewrite, loop, cluster, list, outline, brainstorm individually and in groups, use the journalist’s questions and the topoi to discover ideas);
  • arrange (outline or use “discovery drafting” to find appropriate shapes for texts);
  • compose (draft texts in response to requests for specific kinds of writing);
  • revise (return to the draft and “see” it again to evaluate the focus, development, and arrangement of a document--revise according to those needs); and
  • edit (avoid errors and inappropriate word choices that detract from the meaning and attractiveness of a text);
  • self-evaluate students’ own writing methods;· use journaling to support the study and production of texts;
  • implement technology effectively in composing processes.

2. Demonstrate critical awareness when reading and writing:

  • demonstrate an awareness of audience and purpose when writing;
  • identify the differences between formal and colloquial language, written and oral language;
  • apply appropriate relationships (cause/effect, compare/contrast, temporal) between ideas for an audience;
  • model a range of patterns (descriptive, comparison, example, narrative) for developing paragraphs;
  • analyze texts on sentence and paragraph levels for rhetorical/aesthetic features;
  • identify central and supporting ideas in primary and secondary texts;
  • demonstrate an awareness of electronic resources for locating and supporting texts;
  • practice effective collaborative writing strategies.

3. Exercise consistent stylistic fluency and technical accuracy:

  • use specific words to express precise meaning for academic and other real-world audiences;
  • express ideas in a variety of sentence structures, demonstrating awareness of the purposes and demands of subordination and coordination;
  • write for a community of readers with the language, conventions of grammar and usage, and punctuation appropriate for that audience;
  • implement effective strategies for revising and editing to produce texts suitable for classroom circulation or on-line publication in a class anthology.